Before my wife and I left Europe last year a friend of ours brought me a gift of a bottle of Justino's Malmsey Madeira wine from 1870. It was in his fathers caves for all these years. Any idea if it could be good, valuable or should I buy a lot of lettuce before I open the bottle in expectation of the outcome.

this was one of the very last vintages from Portugal prior to the disruption due to Phylloxera. It was a wonderful Porto vintage and I am sure the weather on the Isle of Madeira was not to different. Anyway, you will have a darn nice bottle to open up and let us know your tasting notes!

My wife is having our first child on Feb. 9th and this sounds like a great occasion to try the Madeira wine. But just in case we will keep some extra lettuce on hand in case it turns out to be vinegar. As soon as I try it I will report back.

If the wine is what OportoRAH says it is, I doubt it will be vinegar. Real Madeira can just about live forever. I tasted an 1870, 1945 and recent Madeira by the same producer; the older was nearly as fresh as the younger.

Cyclops, Madeira is a special wine, made in a special process called estufa. Essentially, the wines are heated for a few months and just about pasteurized. This process helps create wines that live for damned near ever; and good ones at that.

Well the baby was born and as promised the 1870 maderia wine was a toast to his happiness. Both the baby and the wine were wonderful and significantly better than expected. The wine was incredibly smooth and had just the right sweetness. I would recommend both to anyone reading this.